The Awakening
by xtorchtiesx
Summary: Roxas is on the brink of death as Sora awakens within him... - suggestions welcome and will be incorporated. Axel x Roxas and Riku x Sora to come...
1. Trouble in Paradise x1x

**Disclaimer: Don't you think if I owned Kingdom Hearts the Nobodies might still be alive?**

Trouble in Paradise

Demyx ran up the white staircase, spiralling majestically up the centre of The Castle That Never Was. He had to admit; the Superior certainly had taste. The endless web of corridors spread out in front of him; each without end. Completely unfazed by the soulless maze ahead he veered to the right towards the sound of voices.

For a reason unknown to the residents of the castle they always congregated in the bizarrely named Left Wing. The deeper Demyx ventured into the castle, the more Nobodies he found. He was soon so far into the network of blank walls that most would be entirely disoriented – but he knew where he was going. A familiar yelp echoed towards him down the straight passage. Demyx sped up, sitar knocking against his back as he ran.

The door opened inwards onto an equally desolate room. However the emptiness was relieved by a laughing mop of crimson spikes. The subject of Axel's amusement stood in the far corner, desperately fanning his flame-like hair. No, Demyx realised, Roxas' hair was actually on fire! Quickly he summoned water from the air over Roxas' desperately shrieking form and concentrated to bond the atoms until they were dense enough to douse him. A torrent of water gushed over Roxas, quelling the flame. Demyx grinned, impressed with himself. Roxas was not so impressed; dripping and with his blonde hair singed black in places he skulked out of the room.

"R-R-R-Roxas-s-s! C-Come ba-" Axel spluttered through spurts of laughter.

"Forget it." The blunt reply came as he attempted to push past Demyx.

"Aww, come on Rox! Don't you wanna hear my new song?" Demyx chimed.

"Yeah. What's wrong with you lately?" Having sobered up, Axel grabbed the arm of the smaller nobody. "Tell us! We'll understand."

"Right. Next time you have to fight off a psychopath questioning your existence you tell me and we'll have a chat." The uncharacteristic 

sarcasm dripped off Roxas' tongue languidly. He shrugged his shoulder back sharply to try and loosen the grip.

"Hey, look, I know you're having a tough time lately but you've gotta trust us. We're your friends, got it memorized?"

"Great friend you are, setting me on fire." Water flew everywhere as he shook his head.

"Come on, you know that was an accident."

"I'm sure."

"Stop arguing both of you!"Demyx couldn't take it any longer. "Does it matter? We've all got another assignment to go on and we've gotta work together."

* * *

Demyx squinted up into the light of the town square. He always found it hard to adjust after traversing the corridors of darkness. Axel and a disgruntled Roxas appeared beside him. It was a day after they had argued but it was still reflected on Axel's face. As he eyed up the materialising heartless his usual smirk had none of the cunning attitude it normally emanated.

"Here we go again..." Demyx's voice rang with nervous anticipation.

"What's the point?"

"Come on Roxas! It'll be fun!"

"Killing innocent people isn't fun."

"Where'd that come from? Don't tell me you're actually getting a conscience now." Axel joked.

"Maybe it would be nice to pretend I had a heart for a moment."

"Which is why we need to harvest these hearts; to get our own ones back."

Roxas sighed and gently closed his eyes as storm clouds began to sweep over the horizon. The rain streamed down, plastering his burnt hair to his forehead. The villagers hastily headed home, not all managing to escape the smothering grip of the heartless. Demyx and Axel were oblivious to the screams. Demyx had conjured his sitar now and with a flourish began to play. The unsettlingly beautiful music made Roxas shiver. "Concentrate..." he muttered to himself, pressing his eyelids tighter. They had moved slowly forward into the centre of the square as the song of the storm got more intense. The heartless began to surround them in a dense mob of darkness, creeping in time to the chilling symphony of thunder and sitar. A scream could be heard from the distance and the last heartless scuttled towards them. The circle was now complete, the heartless, moving as one began to advance. Roxas felt heat against his face and opened his eyes a crack to see a ring of fire spring up around them, separating the fight from the rest of the world. There was a hiss and a dense black mass leapt towards him. A flaming chakra sent it flying. "Thanks..." Roxas couldn't keep relying on the older nobodies. Now was the time to fight. Now was the time to show the others what he was made of. He looked deep within himself and summoned up the power of light.

_"Sora!"_

The scream came from inside the ring of flames this time. Axel whirled around to see a blaze of white light fill the courtyard emanating from a small crumpled body curled on the icy cobbles, burnt hair washing over its black coat.


	2. Reverse x2x

**Disclaimer: **

**Demyx- i am of course owned by xtorchtiesx because she is the awesome-est! **

**Axel - and if she's been telling you that she needs to get over herself.**

**xtorchtiesx - I haven't...**

**Axel - Ok then... **

**Demyx- XD**

Reverse

Beneath the suffocating scarlet bandages two vivid amber eyes narrowed.

The disquiet in his manner was sensed by the figure across the room and a shadow appeared over his left shoulder.

"What's up?"

The phrase was said in a far more serious manner than the words would suggest, so the man decided to let the colloquial slip into boyhood pass. Back in his world he would have scolded any child who spoke to him in such a way, but he had not said it like most of the teenagers of his age would have uttered it; then again he wasn't exactly an ordinary teenager. No, he had been through too much: and that's what makes him useful.

The young man persisted.

"What has happened?"

Should he tell him? Of course, he had the right to know... but would it do him any good to hear it?

"Tell me."

Yes, he would persist until he got results. That was what made him so useful. It would be a shame to dampen the attribute over something so insignificant.

"He is awaking."

"But that's not possible... he can't reawaken until we've connected him to support."

"Exactly."

"Then how...?"

"Without the support being ready the system has flipped into reverse."

"You mean..."

"Yes. He is awakening through the Nobody."

That gave the young man cause for thought. The shadow left from behind him and paced to the other side of the room.

"I will be able to fix it given time."

The dark figure nodded in acknowledgement but his thoughts were elsewhere. Did this mean he could see him again? If just for a moment...

* * *

Falling... falling... falling...

Axel sat on the edge of Roxas' bed. He looked so peaceful, yet his brow was creased just slightly. It was clear that wherever his mind was; he wasn't happy about it. What would he do if the thirteenth member never woke up? Sure, there was Demyx, but Roxas was so much more to him than just a member of their assault team. The furrows deepened above his eyes. This wasn't right. It had been hours now and there was no sign of life, Nobodies couldn't survive this long in their dreams.

Falling... falling... surely he should have hit the bottom by now? Where is it: the end to his suffering? Maybe there is no bottom, no end. The pain...

As the lines deepened again and Roxas' eyebrows began to knit together Axel was disturbed. He was clearly in a lot of pain. All he wanted to do was help his friend, save him.

"Roxas?"

There was no response.

"Roxas?"

_Roxas?_

You...

_Roxas..._

You're doing this. I HATE YOU. LET ME GO.

"I hate you..."

"Roxas...? Wha...?" Axel's elation was cut short. He reached forward. "Roxas?"

"Let me go..."

No. Not him. His best friend. It couldn't be true. It wasn't true. He jumped on the bed and grabbed both of Roxas' arms. He was going to wake up.

"ROXAS!"

Pain...

"Roxas."

"How do you know my name?"

"_Who are you?"_

He screamed.

Demyx appeared in the doorway to find Axel on top of Roxas... in bed!?

"Aww fishsticks, IT'S TRUE!"

Axel turned round.

Demyx prepared to douse his hair, but it was clearly in vain. Axel looked terrified.

The small pale form of Roxas began to scream.

Light filled the room.

"_Who are you?"_

* * *

**A short thankyou to 'Nepece' for making me consider writing chapter 2, and of course to 'torch' and 'ties' who sporked me until I did write it. **

**Please review - I'd like to know where to go from here!**


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